MOSSEL BAY NEWS - An annual highlight for many children starting their school year is being donated the necessary school clothes their families cannot afford to buy.
These donations are made possible by a joint effort by Mossel Bay Child Welfare, the Garden Route Casino Community Trust and the Piet Julies HIV/AIDS Action Group.
This year, the Garden Route Casino Community Trust alone contributed a generous R90 000, to add to the other contributions, which allowed 566 school children from Grades R to 12 to start the school year with dignity.
"Because of our passion for children, it is very important to us that they never see themselves as isolated from other children as a result of poverty.
"When they have the necessary school uniform, children feel that they fit in," explains Theo Zazini, chairman of the Piet Julies Action Group.
He mentions that the group takes great pride in the fact that some of the children were the recipients of these donations from their earliest primary school years until Grade 12.
Park Primary School, not a beneficiary previously, has also been included this year, and according to Zazini, the project is working towards including more local schools.
Rita Kayster from the Piet Julies Group says schools in outlying areas such as Ruiterbos, Dwarswegstrand and Brandwag, have also benefited from the donations.
"We are urging other organsations such as churches and NGOs to join hands with us in growing this project.
"There is a need everywhere and through pooling our efforts, we can do so much more," says Michael Carelse from Child Welfare, Mossel Bay.
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